7 Collaborative Poetry Games and How to Play

Give four people a blank sheet of paper and one odd rule. By the time the page comes back, it may contain a poem nobody expected and nobody could honestly claim as theirs alone.

People have been writing this way for centuries. Some forms ask you to see only the previous line. Others show everyone the whole poem but limit the rhythm, line endings, or order of turns. The result can be careful literature, cheerful nonsense, or something awkward and unexpectedly good.

Here are seven collaborative poetry games, how their rules differ, and where people play them.

What is a collaborative poetry game?

A collaborative poem has more than one writer. It becomes a game when the group agrees on a constraint: hide the earlier lines, answer only the latest one, use prescribed rhymes, transform what you receive, or assemble many voices around one prompt.

The constraint matters because a blank page asks for everything at once. A game asks for one manageable move. Write a line. Find an ending. Respond to an image. Then let somebody else take over.

If choosing the opening idea is the difficult part, start with one of these 50 collaborative poetry prompts for friends and groups.

Four people adding lines to one shared poem

1. Exquisite Corpse: write without seeing the whole poem

The best-known hidden-writing game is Exquisite Corpse, or cadavre exquis. It began as a text game among the Parisian Surrealists. The National Gallery of Art dates André Breton’s version to 1925 and notes that the drawing version came later (National Gallery of Art).

The basic rules are wonderfully low tech:

Agree on a sentence pattern, or decide that each person will write one line.
The first player writes, folds the paper to hide the contribution, and passes it on.
Each player adds a word or line without seeing the earlier ones.
Unfold the page only when everyone has finished.

The Academy of American Poets calls hidden prior contributions the one essential rule. A group can also reveal the last word or line as a clue, which gives the next writer a little more to work with (Academy of American Poets).

For a paper setup, an original example, and remote-play options, read the full guide to playing Exquisite Corpse as a writing game.

The point is surprise. Nobody can steer the poem toward a tidy conclusion, so strange images slip past the part of the mind that wants everything to make sense. This works around a kitchen table, at a party, or in a writing workshop. Online versions replace folded paper with a private room and reveal the finished text at the end.

2. Renga and renku: link, then move somewhere new

Japanese renga is much older and far more structured. Writers take turns adding alternating 5-7-5 and 7-7 sound-unit verses. Early forms paired two poets; later sequences joined many links and many writers.

Kyoto University’s archive describes renga gatherings during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods that included nobles, warriors, and ordinary townspeople. Some sequences ran to 100 verses, with detailed rules governing repeated subjects, seasons, love, the moon, and blossoms (Kyoto University).

A useful beginner rule survives inside that complexity: link and shift. Your verse should connect to the one immediately before it, but the poem should not remain stuck in the same scene. The Japan Renku Association explains that the third link should avoid merely repeating the first, so the sequence keeps opening new ground (Japan Renku Association).

You can try a loose version with three or more people:

One person writes a short opening verse with a concrete image.
The next writes a shorter response that links to it.
The third connects to the second while shifting the place, time, mood, or subject.
Continue for 6, 12, or 18 links.

Traditional renga and renku groups use many more rules and may have a leader who selects or guides the links. The form has also travelled by letter, so it suits both a roomful of writers and slow correspondence.

3. Bouts-rimés, or burime: the endings come first

In bouts-rimés, usually called burime in Ukrainian, someone chooses a list of rhyming words before the poem exists. The writer must use those words at the ends of lines, in the given order. The French Academy’s dictionary traces the term to the seventeenth century and describes it as a popular social game (Académie française).

For a quick round, choose four end words in two rhyme pairs. Give everyone five minutes to write four lines that land on those exact words. Read the versions aloud afterward. The fun comes from seeing how many routes can lead to the same endings.

Burime works well at parties, in classrooms, and in writing groups because the challenge is obvious. It can be collaborative, with one person choosing the words and another writing, or competitive, with several people solving the same rhyme puzzle.

4. The chain poem and group sonnet: one line each

A chain poem needs almost no explanation. One person writes a line, the next adds another, and the poem travels around the group. Everyone may see the full draft, only the previous line, or a short prompt chosen at the start.

For a group sonnet, set the length at 14 lines and give one line to each of 14 people. A smaller group can take several turns. The University of Pennsylvania’s collection of writing experiments suggests either collecting the lines on cards and arranging them afterward or writing in sequence so each person can respond to what is already there (University of Pennsylvania).

This is a forgiving classroom or workshop format. A participant only has to solve one line, but the group still gets a complete piece to discuss. In a shared document, the same game can continue over several days.

5. Poetry telephone: transform the line you receive

Poetry telephone borrows the drift of the spoken game sometimes called Chinese Whispers. The first player writes a line, phrase, or stanza. The next person transforms it and passes on only the new version. Nobody except the final player sees the entire sequence until the reveal.

The transformation can follow one rule: keep the rhythm but change the subject, replace every image, answer with an opposite, or rewrite the line from memory. The University of Pennsylvania includes both in-person and email or text-chain versions in its writing experiments.

This game produces a record of interpretation. Its pleasure comes from comparing the first and last lines and then reading every small turn in between.

6. The community poem: gather first, edit together

A community poem keeps all the voices visible. Everyone answers the same prompt with one line. The group gathers the lines, notices recurring images, decides on an order and form, chooses a title, and reads the result aloud.

The Academy of American Poets’ Community Poem Project uses exactly this process. Its suggested settings include classrooms, libraries, parks, community groups, youth programs, Zoom rooms, and public installations. The poem can live on paper, a wall, or a shared digital document (Academy of American Poets).

Here the reveal is less important than the editing. The group has to decide what belongs together without sanding every voice into the same style. It is useful when the aim is to record how a community speaks about one place, event, worry, or hope.

7. Rhyma: the folded-paper game on a phone

Rhyma uses the hidden-context idea in an asynchronous mobile game. You see only the previous line, have about three minutes to add 5 to 66 characters, and pass the poem on. The full text opens for all contributors when the poem reaches 4, 8, 12, or 16 lines.

World mode connects people who do not know one another. Circles let you invite friends, family, or coworkers while keeping the same one-line-at-a-time rule. Every line is written by a person rather than generated by AI (Rhyma, Google Play).

It belongs to the same family as Exquisite Corpse and the hidden chain poem, but the phone changes where the game happens. The writers do not need to be in the same room or awake at the same time. A poem can move between cities and return days later for the reveal.

Seven games at a glance

Game	What you can see	Main constraint	Good setting
Exquisite Corpse	Nothing, or one small clue	Hide earlier contributions	Parties and workshops
Renga or renku	The previous link	Link to it, then shift	Poetry groups and correspondence
Bouts-rimés or burime	The rhyme words	Use fixed line endings	Classrooms and friendly contests
Chain poem or group sonnet	Full poem or last line	One line per turn	Classrooms and shared documents
Poetry telephone	Only the latest version	Transform what you receive	Small groups, email, or chat
Community poem	All contributed lines	Select and edit together	Schools and community spaces
Rhyma	Only the previous line	One short timed line per turn	Android, with strangers or a private Circle

Which collaborative poetry game should you try?

For a five-minute party game, use Exquisite Corpse or burime. Both need only paper and a rule that fits in one sentence.

For a writing group that wants to pay attention to craft, try a short linked-verse sequence. Six alternating links are enough for a first encounter with the renga idea without pretending to follow every traditional rule.

For a class or community event, use a chain poem or a shared-prompt poem. They give every person a clear contribution and leave room to talk about order, voice, and editing.

For a group that cannot meet at the same time, use a shared document, an email chain, or a mobile game such as Rhyma. The old passing gesture still works. The paper has simply become a notification.

Frequently asked questions

Does collaborative poetry have to rhyme?

No. Burime makes rhyme the central puzzle, but Exquisite Corpse, chain poems, community poems, and Rhyma can use rhyme or ignore it. Traditional renga and renku depend on linked verse patterns rather than end rhyme.

How many people do you need?

Two people are enough for a chain or a short linked poem. Three to eight usually gives a hidden-context game more variety without making the wait too long. Community poems can involve an entire class or a much larger public group.

Is Exquisite Corpse a drawing game or a writing game?

Both. The Surrealist game began with text in 1925 and was adapted to drawing. In the writing version, people hide words or lines; in the drawing version, they hide sections of an image.

Can you play collaborative poetry online?

Yes. Writers use shared documents, email, group chats, browser rooms, and mobile apps. Some formats happen live, while others let each person take a turn hours or days later.

Try Rhyma on Google Play

7 collaborative poetry games and how people play them